Pilot Road - Truck wobble

[wjbertrand]

I tend to think of a wobble as a regular oscillation usually caused by some harmonic in the frame, suspension or other structure of the bike. All the ST's I've ridden or owned, both 1100 and 1300 varieties are subject to buffeting when in turbulent air flow. The buffeting however is not regular in frequency like a true oscillation, weave or wobble.

Having said that, my limited experience with the PRs on the 1300 so far doesn't indicate they are any worse than the OEM D220s or the Avons.

 

[uptoblackwood]

I had the wobble this past week (on a new set of Pilot Roads)....and especially at high speeds. I'm not so happy with these tires.

Forest

 

[ErnieCopp]

Wobble / Shaking Etc w Michelin Pilot Roads

I now have about 3K on the MPRs. I like the grip and handling in general. They are noisy and, while I knew that in advance and thought it would not bother me, it is beginning to bother me. About wobble ... what I have noticed is that I get a kind of shaking with my Honda top box installed at speeds about ~ 65 or so and with the stock windshield from all the way down to about half way up. I attributed this to the top box rather than the tires. This happens in clean air but feels like riding in dirty air behind a truck.

Subsequently I moved the windshield to the upper mounting position and tested with the top box installed. It and seems better to me. More time will tell more.

What other tires do you all recommend for the ST?

Ernie

 

[naturally wired]

How about a ride report without the top box ?....I have read about police st1300's having this kind of problem......I'm not sure but I think there fix was a different top box ?....Like I said before I have had no problems like you guy's have had but my dragon has no top box and I ride without the bags most of the time also !.....after reading this tread you have helped me make the decision to go with the back rest for the girl friend and a soft bag behind that for the long trips !!!!

 

[tdeboeser]

Adjust your suspension!

( I have no top box ). I adjusted my suspension, tightened pre and softened damping. It has improved my "truck wobble" greatly. That said, I think the PR's tend to "search" a little more on the open road.
So, turn the pre-load clicker ( mine, I think, is at 32 clicks or 16 out from 0 ) tighter, and soften up the damping screw just ever so slightly ( IIRC mine is one turn out ).

Now the funny thing is, why the change from 020's to the PR's....


Tom de

 

[naturally wired]

My stockers followed every crack in the road....plus in the corners the front felt like it was going to make me low side........I now laugh at tar snakes ....can't feel every crack in the road and scrape my pegs !!......your picture shows a top box

 

[tdeboeser]

My stockers followed every crack in the road....plus in the corners the front felt like it was going to make me low side........I now laugh at tar snakes ....can't feel every crack in the road and scrape my pegs !!......your picture shows a top box

Yeah, thats me - I WISH!.
<smartass>Yeah... I was at a trackday, in europe with a buddy... and uh... a magazine guy was there yeah... </smartass>.
No, that pics from MC larry's site. But I still have issues with them damn tar snakes...


Tom de

 

[Bones]

I still have issues with them damn tar snakes...

Me, too. I did an otherwise gorgeous section of NY10 in the south part of the Adirondack Park...twisty windy, remote, scenic, but full of tar snakes. Worse yet it had been raining every day for about 100 years (well, maybe only 4 or 5 days) and the tar snakes were in low cracks so whatever water was left on the road gravitated there. I slowed the pace a notch and made a game of snaking between the tar snakes. Still made the front end go squirrelly a couple times. Whatever penny pincher invented tar snakes never rode a motorcycle.

 

[tdeboeser]

<snip>Still made the front end go squirrelly a couple times. Whatever penny pincher invented tar snakes never rode a motorcycle.

I had the problem with 020's and the PR's... seems only on some snakes tho. IIRC, it only began to happen with the 020's toward the end of thier life (the 020's).

Yeah, unfortunally it seems it might take someone dieing on them to get the snakes improved.


Tom de

 

[sherob]

Glad to see your PR's are riding a little better, Tom They just snaked the crap out of a street I ride home everyday... 3 miles of tar snakes now. Not a big deal if moving, but coming to a stop :

 

[tdeboeser]

Glad to see your PR's are riding a little better, Tom They just snaked the crap out of a street I ride home everyday... 3 miles of tar snakes now. Not a big deal if moving, but coming to a stop :

On my commute, I gotta off-ramp I used to love to get low in... now.... .... GOD I hate when that front "squiggles". I know it's not gonna put me on the ground, but I can't stand the way it feels... A buddy of mine rides with me ( commute ) on a VTX, he says his Avons do it too...

oh yeah...
:th1:

damn snakes....

Tom de